Related

VANCOUVER — Vancouver council has adopted punishing new fees in an effort to stop the conversion of low-income single-room occupancy hotels.

Since 2003, the city has required owners of SRO hotels to pay a fee of $5,000 for every unit they want to permanently remove from the city's Single Room Accommodation Bylaw. It raised the amount to $15,000 in 2007 after it appeared property owners were willing to pay the fee.

But now, as the city grapples with an extraordinarily low vacancy rate, and as investors snap up relatively cheap hotels in the Downtown Eastside to convert into hostels, student housing or boutique hotels, the city has decided to raise the fee to a dizzying $125,000 per unit.

That is how much the city conservatively believes it will cost to build a new SRO unit.

At the same time, the city has also closed off another loophole unscrupulous landlords use to empty rooms so that they can raise rents. From now on, anyone wanting to do even "minor repairs" will have to obtain a city permit and provide a plan for relocating affected tenants, including letting them back into the renovated unit at the original rent.

The issue of landlords using renovations as an excuse to evict tenants in order to raise rates has been carrying on for so long, poverty activists have coined the phrase "renovictions" to describe the behaviour.

The two changes are part of a city effort to stop the increasing erosion of Vancouver's declining stock of SRO housing.

"This says to the bad landlords, 'Look out. We're coming to get you, and if you are thinking of flipping those properties, you'd better think again because that is just not going to happen,' " said Vision Vancouver Coun. Kerry Jang.

"We'll make it so bloody difficult for you it isn't going to work."

But one lawyer and former Vancouver city councillor believes the new fees are unconstitutional and will be challenged in court.

"This is a form of expropriation with an evasion of the rules of expropriation," said Jonathan Baker. "If the city wants to keep SRO hotels as SRO, let them buy them. Expropriate if you want."

Baker said preventing owners from changing their businesses by imposing high fees — which he called a tax — would appear to violate their constitutional rights.

"This is patent bullshit from some professional bullshitters," he said. "This is turning owners into slaves to keep in effect a government policy. We also made slaves out of people to pick cotton. That wasn't any more right."

Between 2004 and 2014, the city lost 1,752 private market SRO units. But during the same period, it gained 2,433 social housing units operated by non-profits and the provincial government.

More than half of the loss of SRO units was due to the purchase of more than 900 rooms in 13 hotels by BC Housing. Those rooms were then retrofitted and converted to social housing units.

Since 2003, two dozen SRO owners have paid to take 919 units out of the bylaw. The city collected more than $1.3 million in fees.

At the same time, the lowest rents in SRO rooms has declined. Since 2007, the number of rooms rented at the welfare shelter rate of $375 or less has declined from 60 per cent to 24 per cent in 2013.

City staff said the new dynamic of "owner investors" wanting to convert more hotels to higher profit margins by renting to foreign students and people employed in service industries has increased pressure on low-income housing stock.

But the efforts to strengthen the rights of low-income tenants and to stop the erosion of SRO units came under fire from the very people the city's efforts are intended to help.

"We are concerned that the changes to the bylaw will not solve the problems," said Katelyn Siggelow, who lives in the Downtown Eastside.

DTES activists said they wanted the city to also apply the $125,000 fee to any unit owners want to repair and then raise rents.

"I think that is the big magic bullet and the leverage the city needs in order to squeeze more welfare rate units from the owners and from the province," said Wendy Pedersen.

"You would have so much more leverage with that conversion fee applied to renovictions and you would get more rooms at welfare rates."

Is there more to this story? We'd like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. CLICK HERE or go to vancouversun.com/moretothestory

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Video

Today's Headline Videos

Best of Postmedia

To steel himself for the year-long journey that began Wednesday, Jonathan Pitre has been going over the hard calculus that underpins his decision to pursue a high-risk, high-reward treatment in Minnesota

When he woke up in tears the morning after he had cried himself to sleep, Rohit Saxena knew what he had to do. Leaving his wife, Lesley, asleep in bed, Rohit went downstairs, opened his laptop and began to write. “They say your kids are your hearts outside your body,” he wrote. “I’ll always be […]

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.